Making and Breaking Medieval Manuscripts

Both before and after the advent of movable type in Europe, circa 1450, artists created hand-drawn and hand-embellished scrolls, books, and maps. In Western Europe during the Middle Ages, manuscript ornamentation became a flourishing art form, enriching secular and sacred items alike.

The exhibition showcases Western European manuscripts from the thirteenth to the sixteenth centuries and examines issues associated with the production of illuminations and other decorations, patronage, owner additions and modifications, the impact of printing technologies, the reuse of parchment, book breaking, and the legacy of the self-professed “biblioclast” Otto F. Ege.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.